Cellar Favorite: 2012 Domaine François Raveneau Chablis Blanchot Grand Cru
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Burgundy
, Jan 2021
It’s always a pleasure to pull a bottle of Raveneau from the cellar. These are among my favorite wines from anywhere in the world. Of all the domaines I once covered but have since handed off to other critics at Vinous, Raveneau might very well be the one I miss visiting most, as the wines are so often transcendental.
La Lumière Noire: 2019 Burgundy - Côte de Nuits
featured, France: Burgundy
, Dec 2020
The second part of my 2019 Burgundy report examines producers based in the Côte de Nuits. Did Pinot Noir excel or suffer in the warm, dry summer?
La Lumière Noire: 2019 Burgundy - Côte de Beaune
featured, France: Burgundy
, Dec 2020
As Burgundy contends with warmer, drier growing seasons, the 2019 vintage demonstrates how vine and winemaker are adapting and often thriving in the so-called “new normal”. First, we look at the Côte de Beaune.
Cellar Favorite: 2017 Domaine Didier Montchovet Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Burgundy
, Nov 2020
Why a piddling Bourgogne Hautes-Côte de Whatever? What numbskull chooses to cellar such low ranking Burgundy? And who the hell is Didier Montchovet? Pull up a chair and let me explain why I chose this particular wine.
Cellar Favorite: 2015 Domaine des Comtes-Lafon Meursault Clos de la Barre
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Burgundy
, Nov 2020
Why is there a photo depicting mackerel in this Cellar Favorite? Well, let me explain.
Joseph Drouhin “Monty and Moose”
Verticals & Retrospectives, featured, France: Burgundy
, Oct 2020
Who doesn’t enjoy munching through a packet of M&Ms? But these M&M’s are different: Montrachet & Musigny from Domaine Drouhin. I examine these two wines via separate verticals from recent vintages back to the 1940s.
Cellar Favorite: 1955 Maison Leroy La Romanée Grand Cru
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Burgundy
, Oct 2020
Maison Leroy’s 1955 La Romanée Grand Cru is a historic wine for many reasons, and not just because of its age. It was the year Henri Leroy asked his daughter Lalou, then 23, to join the family business and help him select the wines for the maison’s portfolio. To this day, Lalou Bize-Leroy has an extraordinary memory of those early wines she tasted with her father.
Close to the Edge: Chablis 2018 & 2019
featured, France: Burgundy
, Sep 2020
The 2018 and 2019 Chablis growing seasons are cut from a similar cloth, but on close examination there are crucial differences that sway their respective styles. This report compares the two and asks to what extent climate change might erode Chablis’ uniqueness.
Vinous Table: Le Pot d’Etain, L’Isle-sur-Serein, France
Vinous Table, France: Burgundy
, Sep 2020
If pure enjoyment is the measure of a restaurant, then Le Pot d’Etain scored highly – certainly far higher than circumspect naysayers had led me to believe.
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2017 Domaine Leroy: Elegance, Finesse & Grace
featured, France: Burgundy
, Sep 2020
Burgundy is where I truly learned to taste wine. It is the best school. Essentially one variety for white, one for red and that’s it. The rest is all about place, about trying to understand how the attributes of a site are expressed in what is in the glass. Nowhere is that more true than at Domaine Leroy, where everything that Burgundy represents, its purest essence, is dialed up all the way.